What a Guardian Angel!
by Joshua Falken
Summary: After being saves of a fatal accident by Giselle, his Guardian Angel, Ash wonders in what kind of trouble he fell into...
1. Chapter 1

What a Guardian Angel! - chapter 1

_What a Guardian Angel!_  
by Liv Valle and Joshua Falken

_Thanks to BenRG for beta read this fic_

**Author's notes:** The following story is of the Humor genre. Although it deals with religious concepts (such as angels and the spirit realm) it does not represent a serious commentary on religion or on the beings that may inhabit the spirit realm. It is intended only to be a comedy, no more. If you are easily offended by stories with a religious aspect or that treat religious concepts irreverently, you are strongly advised **NOT TO READ THIS STORY**. Joshua Falken, Liv Valle and Ben Russell-Gough cannot accept any liability for distress or offence that this story may cause.

_Chapter 1  
By Joshua Falken_

Ash Ketchum, Misty Williams, Brock Harrison and the Pokéball engineer Stephen Kurt were pursuing Butch and Cassidy, who had stolen the mysterious G/S Pokéball from Professor Patrick Elm's laboratories in New Bark City. The chase had lasted for several days now, but it was almost over.

"Over there!" Brock exclaimed. The two terrorists had entered in an abandoned mine.

Ash and his friends walked down the tunnel until it split into two separate tunnels. Brock and Kurt took the one on the right and Ash and Misty took the one on the left. Some minutes afterwards, Ash and Misty heard voices:

"_This is it, Butch!_" a woman's voice announced in an excited tone of voice. "This is the day that we've been waiting for! When the Boss sees this, he will promote us for sure!"

"And we'll never have to see Jessie and James again in our lives!" a man replied in a grating voice. While the two terrorists/thieves laughed about their luck and planned how they would spend the bonus their employer would give them for their efforts this day, Ash, Misty and their Pokémon were discussing their plan of attack.

Ash released his Chikorita and carefully sneaked up as close to Butch and Cassidy "Okay, Chikorita! Stun Spore Attack!"

The small Plant-type Pokémon puffed a cloud of soporific spores from the leaf growing from her head. Butch and Cassidy didn't even have the time to register that they were under attack before they were sleeping soundly.

Ash smirked and took the G/S Ball from Cassidy's limp hand. "Easy money," he remarked to himself. He grimaced at the incredibly loud and resonant snores coming from Butch. "I hope he doesn't cause a cave-in," he said to Misty. Shey chuckled a little and the two best friends turned to leave. Unfortunately, as they went to go, Misty tripped over a rock. She reached out to the wall to steady herself, knocked an old mine support from its' place. A small shower of stones and dirt rained down from the roof and fell on the slumbering Team Rocket terrorists, who awoke immediately.

"What the...?"

"Oops," Misty said, looking at the maniacal anger that filled Cassidy's blue eyes. Misty and Ash looked at each other and then fled as fast as they could.

Seeing her most hated enemies (other than Jessie) fleeing with her prize slightly clouded Cassidy's usually efficient mind. She pulled out the Pokéball containing her newest Pokémon and pressed the 'release' pad. "Go Electrode!" A sneering beach ball-sized robotic Pokémon materialised in the middle of the tunnel. "Electrode, get after those Twerps _and Explode them into the next life!_"

"Electrode!" the Pokémon replied and shot towards the two fleeing youngsters.

"Cassidy, _no!_" Butch yelled, his voice suddenly high-pitched with panic. "Don't use Explode down here!"

Electrode released an enormous electrostatic pulse, which, in turn, created a massive explosion. The mine tunnel focussed the power of the explosion, collapsing the roof and launching Butch and Cassidy out of the other end of the tunnel. "Looks like we're blasting off too!" they wailed before they disappeared over the horizon with a little twinkle of light.

The force of the explosion also blew Misty out of the tunnel and sent her tumbling down the gentle slope into which the mine had been dug decades before. The concussion of the attack knocked Ash onto his face, still within the tunnel, and a lump of granite dropped from the collapsing tunnel roof. It was large enough to crush his skull instantly. However, as it dropped, it slowed. It got slower and slower until it stopped. A green icon appeared in mid air, two thick vertical lines, blinking on and off. They were next to a glowing word in green capital letters: 'Pause.'

Four people looked at a paused video screen showing an image of the fallen Ash with a massive lump of rock about to flatten his head like it was a lump of glazier's putty. They looked like three human males and a single human female, all wearing business suits in the purest white, but appearances can be deceiving. Their names were Gabriel, Miguel, Rafael and Uriel.

Gabriel spoke to his colleagues. "As you see, direct intervention is necessary in this case. We cannot forget that he is the Chosen One."

"I agree, Gabriel," Miguel, a strong black man responded, "especially considering the destiny purposed for him. However, I would like to know that the Supreme Authority thinks of that."

"He gave his approval and his blessing, old friend."

"Who would be the angel assigned to this case?" Uriel, a black-haired woman asked thoughtfully.

Gabriel swallowed nervously. Several _million_ years in assisting Michael in his role as the Supreme Authority's messenger and agent still hadn't prepared him for this. "I I, uh, thought we could send Giselle Sagan," he said quietly.

There was a long, dead silence in the room. "Cadet Angel First Grade Giselle Sagan?" Rafael asked, sounding pained. He had many dealings with the cadets, and the name was familiar to him. "_The_ Giselle Sagan? The cadet known to her peers as _'Disaster Area_'?"

"Yes," Gabriel replied. "_That_ Giselle Sagan. Do you have an objection to her being assigned to this case, Rafael?"

"_Yes I do!_" Rafael blurted. "The girl is a menace to herself and everyone around her. She is good at heart but she can't do even the simplest task without creating _havoc_!" He waved his hand wildly. "We sent her to the star Sanduliac 59 degrees 189 in the Large Magelenic Cloud to recover a lost item and she ended up making the star that should have lasted another ten million years _go supernova!_ 'I thought it was pretty. I just touched it and it exploded!' That is what she told the investigatory panel! _She just touched it and she blew the thing up!_" Rafael had gone red in the face with passion. No one could blame him. The 'SN-1987A Incident' had been the biggest disaster in the Agency's history since a certain young angel let a large rock get too close to the Earth and several hundred million years work on those 'dinosaur' creatures was wiped out.

"Don't you think I know about that?" Gabriel replied, looking miserable. "The Supreme Authority _himself_ ordered that she should be assigned to this case." Gabriel remembered The Boss's mischievous smile when he did so. He wondered if this was one of His rightly notorious 'jokes' like the duck-billed platypus or the Psyduck.

Hearing _that_ particular fact silenced the three other executive archangels immediately. "Well, who will inform the girl?" Rafael asked. _Please don't let it be me,_ he added silently. _Please, please, please! I would rather baby-sit Azrael the Avenger for a few aeons!_

"All four of us, Rafael, as per normal procedure," Gabriel said firmly. There was a strange noise from outside the room. "Ah! That must be her. Now, brothers and sister, let us put on a good face for the girl. This is her first major assignment, so she needs to know we have confidence in her. Is that understood?" The other three looked at each other nervously, but they all nodded in agreement.

Gabriel rose and opened the door to the briefing room. A white pulse of energy shot through the doorway at a substantial fraction of the speed of light and collided with the table. The energy pulse immediately tumbled through the air, making Miguel and Uriel dive in opposite directions and collided with the back wall.

The energy pulse suddenly resolved itself into the shape of a fifteen-year-old female human with long purple hair, tied back into a ponytail with a green ribbon. Her friendly blue eyes were crossed over in pain and surprise. She was dressed all in white: A white tank top, white jeans cut off at the knees and white knee-length socks. Even her finger-less biker's gloves and roller-blades were pure, pearly white. After a few moments, Giselle managed to get her head back together after her high-speed collision with the wall.

She grinned around in embarrassment at her superiors. "Uh like, hi guys," she said with a thick Californian accent. "You, uh, you did say that I should hurry didn't you, Mr. Gabby sir?"

The reactions of the four Superior Archangels were most instructive to the student. Gabriel looked at the cadet with an expression that indicated he was feeling the most profound pain in his long existence at hearing his name shortened to 'Gabby.' He also wondered for the very first time if the whole _universe_ might be one of the Supreme Authority's little 'jokes.' Miguel was carefully studying the corners of the room, trying not to look at Gabriel's expression or he would definitely start laughing. Rafael had gone bright red and had crumpled in on himself, weeping softly and muttering something about it being the extinction of the dinosaurs _all over again_. Uriel was smiling at the cadet in her best encouraging fashion and thinking to herself: 'What horrible mess have we got ourselves into _this_ time?"

Gabriel finally broke his paralysis. "Cadet Giselle Sagan!" he barked in his best drill sergeant's tone of voice.

"Yes, Archangel!" Giselle yelped in instinctive obedience and jumped to her feet. Unfortunately, she had forgotten about her roller-blades. Her feet immediately shot from underneath her and she was dumped onto her backside _again_.

Uriel began to hiccup uncontrollably as she tried to control her laughter. Gabriel's face was all-but expressionless except for his lips, which began to twitch as he seriously contemplated joining Rafael in the comforting abyss of hysteria.

Giselle erased the roller-blades from her manifested form and stood up again with a slightly chagrined smile. "Like, sorry about that guys," she said.

"Cadet Sagan," Gabriel began again. "You are being sent on your first mission!" Gabriel announced. "It is an important and highly intricate assignment that will involve you protecting the life of one whose destiny has importance to the Supreme Authority's most important purposes." Giselle gulped and would have begun to sweat if Angels sweat. "Don't worry, child," Gabriel said with a sickeningly false smile of reassurance, "the Supreme Authority Himself recommended you for this assignment! From now on, you will be the Guardian Angel of Ash Ethan Ketchum, the Chosen One."

"Wow!" Giselle said, most impressed. "I watched him in the Pokémon League this year! He's a dish! Uh I mean. Yes, sir!" Giselle shifted uncomfortably under Gabriel's censorious gaze. Every angel knew that such feelings for a mortal were absolutely forbidden, and had been since that terrible period known only as 'the Era of the Nephalim.'

Gabriel quickly briefed the young angel of the details of her assignment and she immediately departed for Earth, shifting through dimensions and time to reach her assignment in a timely manner.

When the cadet left, Uriel murmured a thought aloud. "I just don't know if I should wish luck to Giselle _or_ to Ash Ketchum..."

On Earth, in fact at the abandoned mines close to Alazea City, Ash Ketchum felt _something_ grab his shirt collar and he was launched towards the mine entrance at high speed. He also noticed vaguely that whatever it was, was carrying Misty too.

Brock, Pikachu and Stephen Kurt saw Ash and Misty fly out of the mine and land badly in the ground below the mine entrance. The funny thing was, they hadn't jumped It was as if they were being propelled telekinetically, or as if something invisible were _carrying_ them.

"Elect-TRODE!" bellowed the TR Pokémon and used its' attack as its' Trainer had commanded.

The explosion tore the mine apart and Brock saw Butch and Cassidy fly out of the other entrance and into the sky with a despairing wail of: "Looks like we're blasting off too!"

Just before a combination of the fall and the massive acceleration of his departure from the mine shaft made Ash black out, he was certain that he saw a girl dressed all in white grinning down at him. She winked engagingly. "Hey, don't worry, kid," she said in an accent that was either Californian or purest Cerulean City, "like, I'll protect you!"

To be continued


	2. Chapter 2

What a Guardian Angel! - chapter 2

_What a Guardian Angel!_  
by Liv Valle and Joshua Falken

_Thanks to BenRG for beta read this fic_

**Author's notes:** The following story is of the Humor genre. Although it deals with religious concepts (such as angels and the spirit realm) it does not represent a serious commentary on religion or on the beings that may inhabit the spirit realm. It is intended only to be a comedy, no more. If you are easily offended by stories with a religious aspect or that treat religious concepts irreverently, you are strongly advised **NOT TO READ THIS STORY**. Joshua Falken, Liv Valle and Ben Russell-Gough cannot accept any liability for distress or offence that this story may cause.

_Chapter 2  
By Liv Valle_

Ash opened his eyes and looked around himself carefully. His last clear memory was of an explosion, flying through the air, and then seeing a beautiful girl with purple hair who said she would protect him. _Who was that girl?_ Ash asked himself.

"Pika-pi!" [Ash!] called a blessedly familiar voice. Pikachu jumped up onto the bed and hugged the side of Ash's face excitedly.

Probably summoned by Pikachu's excited cry, Ash's mother suddenly barged into the room, her face pale and streaked with tears. When she saw that her only child was awake, she grabbed him and hugged him _very_ hard. "Oh Ash, I thought that I had lost you!" Delilah cried, tears streaming down her face. In her joy at seeing Ash awake, she didn't immediately notice that he was going an interesting shade of purple.

"Mom... you... are... _suffocating_...me..." Ash gasped.

"Oops! Oh dear! I'm sorry, darling," Delilah replied with an embarrassed smile, a sweat drop forming at the side of her face.

Ash gasped in a deep breath. "Air air good," he groaned. Much more of that treatment and he would have died for real! _Again_, he added to himself, it happened far too often for his liking. Anyway, he could now partake of oxygen again and he quickly recovered his normal Caucasian skin-tone.

Delilah sat next to Ash and wrung her hands nervously. "It was too close this time, Ash," she said. "Thank God that you are going to be okay! If your cousin hadn't rescued you when she did"

_Wait a minute! Cousin? But I_ can't _have a cousin!_ Ash knew that his mother was an only child and the same for his missing father, Rescue Team Captain Adam Ketchum.

On that moment, the door to Ash's room opened and a 15 year-old girl entered. She was dressed in short jeans and a denim jacket. Under her jacket, she was wearing a tee shirt with the logo of a red heart with two little white wings to either side. A Pokéball was attached to her belt. She also had a pair of roller-blades slung over her shoulder. She had long purple hair with a pair of sunglasses stuck in it. Chikorita ran past her, leapt up onto the bed, and began to nuzzle her 'Ashy' lovingly.

"Hi Ash!" the girl said brightly. "It's good to see you well again, little cousin. Oh! Aunt Delilah, that orange-haired girl, I think her name is Misty, is awake in the other room. I think you should see her." Delilah looked a bit uncertain. The girl looked her right in the eyes. "I really think that you should go and see how Misty is doing," she said in a strange tone of voice.

"I really think that I should go and see how Misty is doing," Delilah said. She shook her head and, looking rather dazed, she walked out of the room.

There was a long, uncomfortable pause in the room. The girl walked over to Ash and smiled at him uncertainly, literally reeking of nervousness. Ash looked at the girl claiming to be his cousin suspiciously. Sensing their Trainer's unease, his two Pokémon fell silent and sat silently beside him. "Okay, we're on our own now," Ash said. "Who are you?"

"I I'm your cousin Giselle!" the girl said, sounding very nervous. Giselle reached out and tried to ease Ash's suspicions telepathically, but she ran hard into the Chosen One's formidable mental defences. Gabriel had warned her of this: The Chosen One's mind automatically defended him against psychic influences of all kinds.

"Giselle, if that's your real name," Ash said scornfully, "my mother and father were both only children, so you _can't_ be my cousin." Ash let that sink in before continuing in a far angrier tone of voice. "So, who are you _really?_ And what have you done to my mother to make her believe your story?"

"Wh why do you distrust me?" the girl said, suddenly looking _incredibly_ sad. Tears formed in her eyes and began to run freely down her cheeks. "I I'm a failure!" she continued, stuttering around her sobs. "Five minutes into my first assignment and, like, my subject hates me already!"

If there was one thing Ash hated, it was a distressed girl, who was crying her eyes out in front of him. He leaned forwards, sweatdropping, and grabbed her hand, trying to reassure her. "No, I-I don't hate you!" he said. "I just want to know who you really are!"

Giselle stared at the mortal boy past her tears and tried to think clearly. One thing that is repeatedly drummed into cadet's minds during 'Serve and Protect' classes was the _absolute_ need to prevent your subject from discovering who and what you really are. Knowing that they had a Guardian Angel could have incalculable effects on their thinking processes and lead to the person you were trying to protect self-destructing in some fashion.

However, this was an unusual case. The Chosen One was a powerful person in his own right and already knew how to responsibly control and direct the power he had through his Pokémon. Additionally, the usual methods an angel could use to cover their tracks simply wouldn't work with him. She came to a decision.

"Okay," Giselle said at last, "I'll tell you who I really am." She stopped and leaned close. "Like, just don't tell _anyone_ that I've done this okay?" she added quietly. "If the Boss finds out, I'm going to be in trouble so deep that you can't even imagine it!"

Giselle stood back and concentrated, discarding her human disguise. The brightest white light that Ash had ever seen suddenly surrounded her. Her clothes changed into a flowing white one-piece robe bound at the waist by a wide white girdle. Mighty, pure white eagle's wings spread from her back and a bright golden halo shone from over her head. Some kind of wind caught her long purple hair (which was no longer bound back but hanging freely), making it and the skirts of her robe flow out gracefully. There was an unmistakable sense of beauty, truthfulness and _purity_ about her.

Ash was frozen on the spot, unable to believe his senses and sure that he had _finally_ gone mad. His Pokémon reacted quite calmly to the transformation. Once you've seen one being evolve, you've seen them all.

[Ah, that explains it,] Pikachu remarked. [I thought there was something strange about her.]

[Yeah, we should have guessed,] Chikorita agreed.

"Ash Ethan Ketchum, I am Giselle," the girl said in the most serene and peaceful voice he had ever heard. "I am a messenger of the Most High God, one of the beings you know as 'Angels'. I have been sent to your side to protect you from all danger and see to it that you attain to your destiny."

Ash opened his mouth to protest. Okay, so she _looked_ like and angel, _spoke_ like an angel, _felt_ like an angel and even _said_ that she was an angel. However, that didn't mean that she _was_ an angel, did it? It could be a hoax maybe Ash had suffered a concussion in his fall and was hallucinating or maybe this was a dream! After all, Angels were a myth, weren't they? Something to reassure frightened children and pack them in at the church! Or not?

"Hey! Don't you believe me? Well, like, I can't blame you for that," Giselle said with a laugh that made Ash relax involuntarily. _Everything is going to be okay,_ the sound seemed to say, touching something so ancient and deeply hidden in the human psyche that only the holiest people were even aware it existed. "Let me show you my credentials!"

There was a flash of bright white light and a scroll materialised in her outstretched right hand and a Pokéball in her left hand. Giselle broke the golden seal on the scroll and pulled it open. She cleared her throat importantly and began to read.

_"Memorandum  
"To: Giselle Sagan, Cadet Angel, First Grade  
"From: Archangel Gabriel, Superior Archangel Committee.  
  
"Ms. Sagan,  
  
"From this date, 24th July, Year of our Lord 2064, by the direct will of the Supreme Authority, you are hereby placed on indefinite detached assignment. You will act as Guardian Angel to Ash Ethan Ketchum of 291 Riverside Road, Pallet Town, Indigo Island, Kanto Region, Earth, co-ordinates 234/11028956/35516818/61861284, time frame standard.  
  
"You are hereby authorised to use any and all means necessary to keep your subject safe and well so that he may fulfil the destiny for which he was born.  
  
"Given the importance of this mission, the Supreme Authority has authorised the issuing of a Guardian Angel Pokémon to assist you. His name is Light Hope. While this committee is certain that you are sufficiently capable to protect Ash Ketchum, we also feel that the Pokémon will need to protect _him_ from _you_.  
  
"Your detailed orders and authorisations are attached in the file 'GA_ORD-5646813.PDA'. Please ensure that"_

Giselle cleared her throat. "Well, it's mostly technical stuff from there on," she said, rolling up the scroll and dismissing it with a flash of white light. "Like, I think you get the idea." She was looking forward to working with a Pokémon Angel, but she really would like to know what Gabriel meant by 'the Pokémon will need to protect _him_ from _you_.'

Giselle returned from her introspection. She looked back up at her subject and frowned slightly. He was frozen exactly on the spot, staring at her. "Ash?" she said gently. "Ash? Are you okay?" Giselle panicked slightly and reached out to touch his aura. There was nothing _physically_ wrong with him that she could detect, no disease and no injury. However, he remained completely frozen and uncommunicative. "What's wrong with him?" she asked herself.

Suddenly her Pokéball, which was pure white except for a golden equatorial bar and recall lens, split open and spat out a flash of white light. The white light resolved itself into an Eevee. It was a fairly typical example of Pokémon number 133 except that it was pure white, had sapphire blue eyes and had white eagle's wings extending from its' back. Oh, it was also hovering in the air. Chikorita and Pikachu squeaked in panic and dived under the bed covers.

"Maybe he has gone into shock," the Eevee announced in a cultured English-accented voice. "After all, you have just revealed your true nature to him, contrary to standing orders may I add, and told him that he has a destiny that has attracted the attention of the Supreme Authority Himself. Wouldn't _you_ be a little shocked?"

"Like, it wasn't as if I had much of a choice, Light Hope," Giselle complained, feeling a bit silly.

"Yes, well you can save that for the debriefing," Light Hope said scornfully. "Until then, I think we should concentrate on waking your subject from his current catatonic trance." The Eevee landed gracefully on the bed and walked up to Ash. He stared into the boy's eyes and smiled reassuringly. "Hello, Mr, Ketchum!" he said brightly. "My name is First Commander Light Hope of the Pokémon-Angels. I have been assigned to assist you, and to ensure that my good-natured but none-too-bright counterpart doesn't inadvertently injure you _again_."

Giselle noted that reference to the fact that Ash was only in hospital because she had been somewhat _overly enthusiastic_ about rescuing him from a collapsing mineshaft. "I told you that it was an accident," she snapped. Light Hope rolled his eyes in good-natured disbelief, making Giselle turn away and sulk.

"May I say that it is a personal pleasure and privilege to meet you, Mr Ketchum?" Light Hope continued. "The Chosen One: He who tamed The Beast of the Seas and rode on the back of the Titan of the Oceans, Lugia himself! Quite impressive for a mortal who is less than two decades old! Mr. Ketchum? Mr. Ketchum, are you all right?"

Ash was staring at the pure white winged Eevee that was talking to him in English with an absolute horror that transcended anything he had felt before. He tried to scream. What came out was a strangled gasp. Ash's eyes rolled up into his head and he fell on his side in a dead faint.

There was a long pause in the hospital room as Guardian Angel and Pokémon-Angel looked at their unconscious subject worriedly. "Hmm Maybe this won't be as easy as I thought," Light Hope remarked. He turned to Giselle. "Did I say or do anything _wrong_, Cadet?" he asked. Giselle shrugged. She had no idea.

To be continued


	3. Chapter 3

What a Guardian Angel!  
by Liv Valle and Joshua Falken

Thanks to BenRG for beta read this fic

Author's notes: The following story is of the Humor genre. Although it deals with religious concepts (such as angels and the spirit realm) it does not represent a serious commentary on religion or on the beings that may inhabit the spirit realm. It is intended only to be a comedy, no more. If you are easily offended by stories with a religious aspect or that treat religious concepts irreverently, you are strongly advised NOT TO READ THIS STORY. Joshua Falken, Liv Valle and Ben Russell-Gough cannot accept any liability for distress or offence that this story may cause.

* * *

Chapter 3  
by Joshua Falken

Cadet Angel Giselle Sagan walked over to Misty Williams' room, which was beside Ash's room. She had left Light Hope, who was trying to wake Ash up from his faint. She would really like to know why he was so surprised...

"Worry about that later! Now I need meet his friend," she thought, smiling.

Giselle entered and saw Delilah talking with a clear blue eyed, orange-haired girl. The face was nice and her eyes had an impatient, but intelligent, shine in them. She was very pretty, in the cadet's opinion. Delilah introduced them. "Misty, this is Giselle, Ash's cousin. Giselle, this is Ash's friend, Misty."

The Trainer from Cerulean City looked at the angel in a slightly distrustful manner. Since when did Ash have a cousin? And, Misty had to admit, such a pretty one?

"I am Ash's cousin." The purple-haired girl said in the same tone with that had spoken to Delilah earlier. She had noticed that Misty mistrusted her, but she lacked enough experience in human relationships to understand the reason: Misty was jealous of her.

"You are Ash's cousin." Misty repeated in a dazed tone of voice.

Giselle smiled and extending her hand. "It's nice to meet you, Misty!" 

The orange-haired trainer looked at for Giselle for a moment and then she also extended her hand, disarmed by the open smile of the newcomer girl. "Nice to meet you too, Giselle!"

==========

Meanwhile, Light Hope was rapidly driving himself to distraction while trying to wake Ash up. He had already yelled, licked his face, tickled his foot with his luxuriantly furry tail and even asked Pikachu (as soon as he stopped hiding under the sheets) to use a light Thundershock on him. Nothing had worked! Well, he clearly had no choice but to use the Eevee species' most feared and powerful attack...

Light Hope landed in the bed and generated his disguise. If somebody entered in the room, they would just see a Pikachu, an Eevee, a Chikorita and a comically cross-eyed unconscious boy. "Well... here we go!" Light Hope leaned forwards to touch his wet nose to Ash's cheek. Ash awoke with a surprised start. "About time, Mr. Ketchum!" Light Hope exclaimed.

The young trainer looked at for Eevee for an instant, and then he fainted... again.

"Well, I believe that that might be a little more difficult than I initially thought," Light Hope murmured. Pikachu and Chikorita covered their eyes in disbelief.

"Chi-ko..."

"Pika..."

=============

Brock Harrison, the Pewter City Gym Leader, was sitting in the waiting room and awaiting the return of Mrs. Ketchum. He was still trying to understand what had happened at the mine... At that moment, the door of the room opened up and Brock forgot completely about mines, injured friends, strange facts and everything else.

He only had eyes for the wonderful violet-haired girl that was standing beside Mrs. Ketchum. Before anyone could say or do anything, he was already holding Giselle's hands lovingly. And she, of course, did not understand anything. Why did this young man have such a strange expression on his face?

"Hello, young lady!" Brock said, a bit too loudly. Little bubbles seemed to form in the hair around his head and Giselle could swear she could see little valentine's hearts in his eyes. "What is your name?"

Completely confused, she stuttered. "Gi-gi..."

Brock dropped to one knee and kissed Giselle on the back of the hand. "Gigi?" he sighed lovingly "Such a beautiful name for such a beautiful young lady!"

"No! My name is Gi-Giselle!"

A little embarrassed but not at all surprised with Brock's reaction, Delilah introduced them. Giselle swallowed dryly: he was Brock Harrison. Eros had warned her about this guy. Ash's best friend had fallen in love with every Officer Jenny, Nurse Joy and remotely available young woman in the Indigo, Johto and Orange Regions! Now she understood why he was all red: he had fall in love with her! What was she supposed to do now?

"OUCH!" Went the Pokémon Breeder's reaction to Light Hope biting his leg.

"What was that for, Light Hope?!" Giselle exclaimed, sensing the Pokémon's anger. "Excuse me, Brock! I think my Pokémon is a little jealous!" She looked at her partner and supervisor. "You bad Eevee!" She picked up the scowling normal-type and went to an empty room, while Delilah helped the Gym Leader.

"Light Hope, what was the idea of biting that poor man?"

"The idea was to protect you and keep you focussed on your mission!" Light Hope snapped in reply. "Which, may I remind you, is to protect Ash Ketchum. It is not to help that pathetic human solve his emotional problems! Besides, you know as well as I do that it is forbidden for our kind to fraternise with mortals!"

"I was not trying to solve anyone's emotional problems!" Giselle protested.

"Then why you two were hand in hand?" Light Hope asked suspiciously.

Now, Giselle blushed. She rubbed the back of her neck and laughed nervously, a large droplet of sweat appearing at the side of her face. "He caught me by surprise!" she said quietly.

"He caught you 'by surprise?'" Light Hope repeated in disbelief. "Giselle, your reaction times are twenty times faster than an average human's and you are telepathic! How in all of the Dark Regions could he take you by surprise?"

"Well... he just did," was all Giselle could say. It was the truth, after all. She had never experienced anything like that before in her existence. "I didn't expect him to react towards me in that way."

Light Hope looked at Giselle out of the corner of his eye, trying to keep a straight face at the young angel's obvious embarrassment and confusion. "All right, child," he said. "He caught you by surprise. But why, pray tell, did you not do anything? You were standing there completely frozen when I entered the room."

"Because I... I was caught by surprise..." Giselle repeated lamely. She looked completely disoriented.

Light Hope covered his eyes with his paws. This was shaping up to be a loooonggggg mission... 

==========

Three days later, Ash, Misty, Brock, Giselle and Delilah were all back in Pallet Town. Ash was still trying to come to terms with the fact that the smiling violet-haired girl that now seemed to be glued at his side (much to Misty's dismay) was an angel.

What made this a little difficult was the incredible klutziness that she seemed to suffer from. On only the second day of Giselle's presence in the Ketchums' home, she had managed to destroy half of the crockery that his mother owned while trying to set the table for dinner...

Meanwhile, Giselle and Light Hope were trying to figure out how they could solve the unexpected problem that had cropped up. Brock had fallen completely and utterly in love with Giselle and barely left her alone for a moment. His cries for attention and his attempts to impress her were quickly taking on a disturbingly obsessive colour. While Giselle was trying to help Ash when a shelf in his bedroom came loose from its' bracket and banged him on the head, Brock made the wardrobe fall on him in an attempt to get her to help him instead. It is true that Misty, without knowing, was helping them. On more than one occasion, she pulled Brock away by the ear, saying: "Come on, Romeo, leave Ash's cousin alone."

The second unexpected problem appeared on the second day. Somebody had come to visit Ash. "So, Ash, I hear that rock-hard head of yours saved you when you took a tumble?" Gary Oak asked with an ironic grin.

The young trainer was already used to the rather acidic comments made by his... friend? No, Cordial opponent would describe better. Much better.

"Yes, Gary," Ash replied, rolling his eyes. Let Gary believe what he wanted. It wasn't as if Ash could tell him the truth. I mean, he couldn't tell about his having a guardian angel, could he?

"Well, I hope you don't use that as excuse for not entering in Indigo League this year," Gary said, unable to resist any chance at provoking Ash. Professor Oak's grandson had begun to respect his rival with passing of the years. But admit that? No way! 

The two young trainers continued to exchange verbal barbs for a while, while Pikachu and Gary's Umbreon looked on at their antics in disbelief. At that moment Giselle entered the room. She had sensed Ash's growing annoyance and wanted to see if anything was wrong. Gary seemed to freeze for a moment before the stupidest smile that Ash had ever seen began to crawl across his face. Little bubbles and valentines' hearts seemed to appear in the air around Gary's head.

"Gary?" Ash asked, waving his hand in front of Gary's eyes. The brown-haired boy didn't reply to his childhood friend and closest rival. Instead, he rose, strode over to the cadet angel and he bowed deeply.

"Excuse me, but I don't think that we've been introduced," Gary said in a strangely shy voice. "I am Gary Oak, the future Pokémon Master." Gary turned back to Ash. "Ash! Where have you been hiding this this" Gary's vocabulary ran out. He didn't have the words to describe Giselle's appearance. "This girl?"

Giselle – who, of course, had no experience at all with dating or any other affair of the heart - just smiled innocently and extended her hand for a shake. "Pleased to meet you Gary. I am Giselle, Ash's cousin."

Instead of shaking her hand, the brown-haired boy had took it and kissed it. "Charmed, Miss Giselle," Gary said seductively. "You have brightened up our dull little town with your radiant presence!"

Giselle blushed brightly and she opened and closed her mouth without making any sound. Light Hope, who had come in behind her, and Ash were both astonished, but for different reasons. Ash didn't believe that Pallet Town's most arrogant boy could possibly fall in love, with his guardian angel no less, and Light Hope couldn't believe that there was other 'candidate' for Giselle Sagan's hand. The Eevee looked upward and thought. "Lord, with all due respect to you, I have to ask: don't you think that two candidates are too much for a single angel?"

Maybe it was Light Hope's imagination, but he could swear he heard a kindly chuckle and a voice saying: "Wait and see, my friend. Just you wait and see."

Finally, Giselle unfroze herself enough to react to her situation. "Uh... well... excuse me, Gary, but I think that Aunt Delilah is calling me!" She ran all the way to the kitchen, where she collided with Mimey, who was carrying a sack of flour. The impact made the sack explode and it seemed that either it had snowed in the kitchen, or maybe that Ash's Lapras had used her Blizzard attack. When Mimey cleaned the flour out of his eyes, he saw that Giselle had ran out of the house through the back door.   
The angel stopped when she reached the banks of the Pallet River and sank to her knees, more confused and disoriented than she had ever been before in her life. "There are two mortal boys in love with me," she thought in horror. "Worse still I'm enjoying it! What do I do now?"

* * *

To be continued


	4. Chapter 4

What a Guardian Angel!  
by Liv Valle and Joshua Falken

Thanks to BenRG for beta read this fic

Author's notes: The following story is of the Humor genre. Although it deals with religious concepts (such as angels and the spirit realm) it does not represent a serious commentary on religion or on the beings that may inhabit the spirit realm. It is intended only to be a comedy, no more. If you are easily offended by stories with a religious aspect or that treat religious concepts irreverently, you are strongly advised NOT TO READ THIS STORY. Joshua Falken, Liv Valle and Ben Russell-Gough cannot accept any liability for distress or offence that this story may cause.

* * *

Chapter 4   
by Liv Valle 

A week had passed since Ash, his friends and his "cousin" had returned to Pallet Town. On the day that Ash and his friends had scheduled to resume their Pokémon Journey, they had some unexpected surprises 

"How come that now you are going with us in our Pokémon Journey?" Ash asked, confused and furious at the same time. The last thing that he wanted in the world was to have the annoyance of Gary honking in his ears the entire time. He only wanted that from Misty...

"You heard me right, Ash-boy. I will be very useful for two reasons: One, I never get lost. Two, somebody has to protect a lady from the dangerous situations in which you are going place her." Gary said, smiling like a gallant movie hero, making Giselle feel horribly embarrassed.

"Thank you, Gary, but you really don't have to do this," Giselle said quickly, trying to dismantle the situation. "Our group is just fine as it is."

"That is right, Giselle! We didn't need people like you!" Brock told Gary.

"Nobody asked for your opinion! Okay, my dear Giselle, let's make an agreement. I see that you have an Eevee, right? Well, I have a Umbreon. I suggest that we have a one-on-one Pokémon Battle. If I win, I will accompany you from Pallet Town. If you win, I won't join your party."

"What?" Giselle and Ash said at the same time. The despair took over Light Hope's face and he looked at the cadet Angel in panic.

"Ah... Gary, let me to think a little with my Eevee and with my cousin, 'kay?" Then Giselle ran over to the other end of Delilah's garden. Light Hope didn't like the idea of fighting. He especially didn't like the thought of fighting Gary's Umbreon. Watching him practice with Ash's Pikachu told the Pokémon Angel that the Dark-type Pokémon was strong and dangerous in a fight.

"Why have you put me in that mess, cadet?"

"Calm down, LH, you don't need to be so nervous. Besides you are a member of the First Command of the Poké-angels," Giselle said, making an innocent face.

"It is true, you said yourself that you were of the First Command. You've got all these supernatural powers, so you shouldn't have a problem against an ordinary Pokémon," Ash added.

"That is exactly the problem, Mr. Ketchum! I am an angel, and not an Cherubim!"

"And what is the difference besides the number of wings?" Ash asked confused.

Light Hope flew in his direction, sticking his muzzle in the young human male's face. "Angels are guardians and messengers. It is only the responsibility of the Cherubim to fight!" On that moment, he was turned to Giselle. "Cadet, you have put me in this impossible position, and now you will get me out of it!"

"So" Ash said thoughtfully, stroking his chin. "Ordinary angels don't have attack powers"

"I have an idea that will work," she said in an excited tone.

Ash and Light Hope looked at Giselle worriedly. 'Why don't I like that?' they thought simultaneously.

After a few moments of further heated discussion, Light Hope and Giselle were ready to face Gary and his Umbreon.

'I hope Giselle wins, otherwise I'll have to put up with Gary's arrogance for the next nine months!' Ash thought.

'I hope Giselle wins so that I can be alone with her.' Brock thought, blushing slightly.

'I hope Giselle wins, otherwise I'll be pulling two ears instead of one.' Misty thought.

[Ketchup I want Ketchup,] Pikachu thought.

[I want to play!] Togepi thought, deliriously happy.

Brock stood in between the two young people. "This is a one-on-one battle between Gary Oak and Giselle Ketchum!" he announced. "Trainers: Choose your Pokémon!"

"Go Halley!" Gary called, throwing a super-type Pokéball. There was a white flash and his Umbreon appeared, the yellow rings on his body glowing with dark-type elemental power.

"Okay, Light Hope!" Giselle called. "I choose you!" Light Hope visibly gulped in fear and then ran forward to face the five-times-larger Umbreon.

"Halley! Use Double Team!" Gary ordered. Halley seemed to glow and, suddenly, a ring of illusionary Umbreons surrounded Light Hope. The Pokémon Angel had never actually been in a Battle before and he stared around him in utter confusion.

"Light Hope, use your Rollout attack!" Giselle yelled.

"I don't believe that I am doing this!" The Poké-angel thought in frustration. He rolled up into a tight wheel shape and began to roll towards the ring of Umbreons. By rolling right around the ring, he was able to score single strike against Halley, who tumbled away with a bark of surprise.

"Stay calm, Halley!" Gary commanded. "Use Skull Bash!" Giselle shouted for Light Hope to dodge, but the Pokémon Angel was too shocked by the sudden sight of Halley looming over him to respond. The Umbreon jumped into the air and slammed his head against the smaller Light Hope's head, driving the Eevee's head half into the ground.

"Oh no! LH!" Giselle shouted, covering her mouth in worry.

"Giselle, if you can't beat him move-for-move, use a defensive strategy!" Ash shouted.

"Finish it, Halley!" Gary commanded. "Use Faint Attack!" Halley's golden ring markings glowed even brighter and then the Dark-type Pokémon unleashed a rippling wave of golden-red energy right at the Pokémon Angel.

"Use Light Screen, Light Hope!" Light Hope was scared, but complied, realising that the cadet probably knew more about this than he did. The otherworldly Eevee erected a bubble of psychic energy that reflected half of the attack energy back at Halley, who staggered back in surprise.

"Damn!" Gary snapped when he realised that Giselle had countered his attack. He didn't notice the way the girl winced at his words. Angels had a particularly poor view of cursing, and disliked the world 'damn' most of all. It reminded them of their kind's worst failure.

"Okay, Halley, we'll have to finish this up close and persona! Use Quick Attack!"

"Use Quick Attack too, Light Hope!" Giselle cried out. The two Pokémon blurred towards each other, moving so fast that they couldn't be easily seen. Normally, an Umbreon would be much faster than an Eevee, but this wasn't a normal Eevee. Halley was knocked sideways by the high-speed impact and struck the ground hard. "Yeah! Now use Rollout again!" Giselle called out.

'Again? Oh dear, I wish she hadn't said that,' Light Hope thought in annoyance as he rolled up into a wheel shape again and began to tumble forwards towards Halley. Gary shouted for his Pokémon to counter with another Skull Bash attack, but he was too slow and the first impact between Eevee and Umbreon knocked the larger Pokémon head-over heels. Light Hope pressed his attack and struck the reeling Umbreon four more times. Finally, Halley tumbled to the ground with a moan and fainted.

Light Hope rolled up to Giselle, unrolled from his ball and staggered around in front of his cadet, very dizzy. "Very well LH! Good boy!" the Cadet angel laughed in joy. She swept the Eevee up in her arms, hugging him and shaking him in congratulation. This was the last straw for Light Hope, who vomited his breakfast all over her white tee shirt. 

"EEEKKK!" Giselle screamed with disgust.

After washing and drying the blouse in question, the group found themselves at the start of Route One once again. Light Hope was still a little dizzy but he no longer felt so nauseous. He murmured that, as soon as the mission was finished, he would ask some vacation time in Pokémon Paradise.

"What made you decide to teach Light Hope the Rollout attack, Giselle?" Misty asked in curiosity. "It is an unusual attack to see a normal-type use."

"Well, I've always loved 'Sonic the Hedgehog'," Giselle replied. Ash and Misty fell over backwards. Then, as if from nowhere, Gary appeared in front of them.

"Hi Lady Giselle, how you are going? Now we will be together in our Journey." Gary said, seizing her hands in an excess of politeness.

"Wait one minute!" Ash called out. "We agreed that if Giselle's Eevee defeated your Umbreon, you would not go with us." Ash said.

"I said that I would not accompany you on your journey Ash," Gary said with his usual aura of arrogance. "However, we didn't say anything about me maybe taking the same route as you guys and just happening to be walking alongside you and staying at the same campsites and coincidentally going to all the same places"

"That's it!" Ash shouted and jumped at Gary.

While Ash and Gary fought, Giselle looked at for Light Hope, who had perched on her shoulder the way that Ash's Pikachu usually did. "LH, I think that you battled in vain," she said with an embarrassed smile. 

"I knew that I should have I got a different mission..." the Pokémon-Angel murmured, feeling the bruise on his head from Halley's Skull Bash attack beginning to throb again.

* * *

To be continued


	5. Chapter 5

What a Guardian Angel!  
by Liv Valle and Joshua Falken

Thanks to BenRG for beta read this fic

Author's notes: The following story is of the Humor genre. Although it deals with religious concepts (such as angels and the spirit realm) it does not represent a serious commentary on religion or on the beings that may inhabit the spirit realm. It is intended only to be a comedy, no more. If you are easily offended by stories with a religious aspect or that treat religious concepts irreverently, you are strongly advised NOT TO READ THIS STORY. Joshua Falken, Liv Valle and Ben Russell-Gough cannot accept any liability for distress or offence that this story may cause.

* * *

Chapter 5  
by Joshua Falken

Two weeks after they left Pallet Town, Ash, Misty, Brock, Giselle and Gary (the latter much to Ash's dismay) finally reached Saffron City. Misty and Brock were visibly nervous with their friend's choice of destination.

"But, Ash... why Saffron?" Misty asked quietly.

"Because I want to challenge Sabrina again. And I don't understand why you are so afraid of her! I mean, for League's Gym Leaders Meetings, you should know that she had changed!"

"Even so..." Brock said, uncertain.

Giselle was lagging a little behind the others, so she took the opportunity to telepathically query Light Hope. Do they mean the Sabrina that I am thinking of?

Yes, The Pokémon-Angel answered seriously. Sabrina Valerie Dominique Bowman, leader of the Saffron City's Marsh Gym. The Supreme Authority gifted her with powers that go far beyond what most mortals could even imagine... Unfortunately, due to the rather... er... extreme prejudice against telepsychic powers most people have, Ms. Bowman was driven mad with loneliness. Ultimately, she came very close to becoming the Darkness' most powerful ally.

But she changed, just as Ash said? Giselle had heard that some mortals called the young telepath 'The female Darth Vader', a pop-culture reference that she didn't really understand herself.

Giselle felt her partner smile. Yes, she changed, Light Hope said. All thanks to that young man in the rather tatty League cap a few paces ahead of you. Giselle smiled. She should have guessed who had performed such a miracle...

Meanwhile, Ash was saying: "... besides, I need to have more experience in battle against psychic-types."

"Just with psychic-type Pokémon, Ash?" Gary interrupted with an ironic smile.

"What do you mean by that?" Ash asked, a vein jumping on his forehead.

Meanwhile, about half a mile behind the travellers, and 200 feet in the air, a hot-air balloon shaped like a Meowth's head was following them eastward. "So, what's happening now, James?" Jessie asked in a bored tone of voice. They had been following the twerps for one week, now. The monotony was threatening to drive all three of them crazy. Well, crazier than usual, that is.

"Well... now the usual twerp has begun to fight with the new twerp." James was watching the action through a pair of binoculars and was telling Jessie and Meowth what was happening as if he were a radio commentator at a boxing match. "And now, the girl with the Eevee is trying separate them. And now, the new twerp is holding her hands, with hearts in his eyes. The pathetic lovebird twerp is upset with this and now he wants to fight with the new twerp. And the scrawny brat is pulling the ears of the two twerps..." The same story had repeated over and over for the last week. 'I hope that, when we arrive in Saffron, we'll be able to get on to something new...' James thought. Much more of this and he would blast himself off, saving the twerp and his Pikachu the time and effort. "I hope that Jessie's plan works," he thought to himself. "Otherwise, that number of twerps will make our lives very difficult."

***

Later, the group from Pallet Town knocked doors of the Marsh Gym. A pretty brunette woman with blue eyes came to the door. "Welcome to the Saffron City Marsh Gym."

"Hello, Mrs. Bowman," the three friends said simultaneously.

"Ash! Misty! Brock!" Sabrina's mother remembered them and she smiled. Gary Oak was surprised at the way the woman hugged them as if she were greeting long-lost children. Giselle just smiled, basking in the positive emotions that the woman radiated. "It's nice see you again! How are you going?"

Ash introduced his new companions and, after catching up on recent events, Mrs. Bowman asked what they were doing in the city. " I want to challenge your daughter for a Pokémon battle!" Ash explained. "With everything that happened the last time we visited, I didn't really get the chance to properly battle for the Marsh Badge."

"I accept your challenge." A calm voice answered. Everybody turned as a tall young woman entered the living room. She had long dark-green hair and brilliant blue eyes. Her smile was somewhat narrow and forced. She dressed in a red coat and high-pipe black boots. Sabrina Bowman, large as life, entered the room and looked around her at Ash's new companions. 

Ash introduced Gary and Giselle to the Gym Leader. Giselle and Sabrina looked each other for a long, silent moment. Both felt that there was something very powerful, something special about the other. Ash held his breath. What was going to happen? He worried about what might happen when the world's most powerful psychic met the universe's most clumsy angel... Perhaps his fears were groundless, because they just smiled at one another and shook hands.

***

The battles took place soon after that meeting. Ash won his battle, largely due to the efforts of Heracross, who (as a bug-type) had a lot of resistance to psychic attacks. Gary and Brock both drew with the Gym Leader and Misty won, largely due to Psyduck. The headache-prone water-type popped out of his Pokéball when Misty was about to send our her Starmie and beat Sabrina's Haunter with a powerful Psychic attack.

That evening, Ash's guardian angel was sitting in the gardens outside the Marsh Gym, talking with Light Hope, who had taken to sitting on top of her head. "Light Hope, I know what to do to get Brock off of my back!"

"How?" The Pokémon-angel asked, concerned. He had already figured the odds and he knew that Giselle's ideas had about a 95% of chance of going wrong...

"I'm going to make Brock fall in love with Sabrina!" 

The angelic Eevee's jaw dropped open. "WHAT??????"

"Light Hope! Didn't you notice that she has a little crush on him?!"

Light Hope had his doubts, so he telepathically examined the telepsychic woman's thoughts as she worked in her small office. Much to his surprise, he saw that Sabrina really did have affectionate thoughts towards the Boulder Gym Leader! However, it would take more than those feelings to make Giselle's plan work... A sweatdrop appeared beside his face when he saw the expression on the young angel's face; he could see the gears whirling inside her head. When she looked like this, a wise being made preparations for the worst...

Suddenly, both Giselle and Light Hope 'felt' something was going wrong. Then two voices were heard, two voices that Ash, Misty and Brock found depressingly familiar. "Prepare for trouble because we are trying something new!"

"And make it double because stealing is what we do!"

Suddenly, a net sprang from under their feet, capturing Ash, Misty and Giselle. Everyone looked up to see two people, a redheaded woman and a man with blue-grey hair, both standing on a platform hanging underneath a hot air balloon. "To protect the world from the devastation!"

"To unite all people within our nation!"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!" 

"To extend our reach to the stars and above!"

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket blasting off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now or be ready to fight!"

There was a 'pop-flash' sound and a blue-grey gumdrop-shaped Pokémon materialised in between the two villains. "WOOOH-BUFFETT!"

Another Pokémon, this one like a cream-furred cat, dropped down and knocked the Wobbuffet flat. "Meowth! That's right!"

"Team Rocket!" The ensnared humans exclaimed. Giselle knew about James Northridge Morgan and Jessica Morrigan Gibson, of course. Their files were in her briefing about Ash. The two White Rockets that had been stalking Ash since the beginning of his Journey. She could not stop feeling pity for them. After all she could see as how what they did actually hurt their hearts, even if they would never admit it... This wasn't what they wanted to be, after all. Jessie once already wanted to be a nurse!

"Hey! Where is Pikachu?" Jessie snapped, searching the net frantically.

Jessie and James suddenly figured out that neither Ash nor Misty had their Pokmon and started dancing with rage. Both trainers' Pokémon were in the City's Pokémon Center, so that they could recover from their respective battles. "Your cheaters!" Jessie exclaimed. "You should have brought your Pokémon! Damn it! We finally manage to catch you and you don't have anything worth the stealing!" The redheaded woman burst into tears, collapsed to the ground and began beating her fists on the pavement in an excess of disappointment.

Ash, Misty and Giselle changed confused looks at such "accusation"...

"Meowth! At least we can stole da goil's Eevee!"

Light Hope had no particular interest in being stolen by the three bumbling thieves. He focussed his thoughts and used a Swift attack to cut the net open. Then he bit James on the nose. The blue-haired man staggered back, screaming in panic until Jessie finally managed to pry the Eevee off. Then Light Hope used Tail Whip on Jessie, making her drop him and jump back in surprise.

There was a long pause as the combatants formed a triangle. Jessie and Arbok at one corner, James and Weezing at another (with Meowth hovering above him in the hot-air balloon) and Giselle and Light Hope on the last corner (with Ash and Misty under her arms).

Giselle looked at the two boiling-mad Rockets and grinned. "You lookin' for trouble strangers?" Giselle drawled like a gunslinger in a Western movie. "Well then." Jessie and James tensed. Suddenly, Giselle's voice went back to her normal tone. "Lucky for you, I'm not! Time to go!" Giselle materialised her roller-blades. "Bye-bye suckers!" she laughed in her normal tone and left at full speed back towards Marsh Gym. It took the three thieves a few seconds to realise that Ash's 'cousin' had tricked them. Then they ran off after their escaping victims. 

"Hey! Come back!" Jessie shouted.

"Yeah! We're supposed to be the sneaky ones!" James added.

"I didn't know that you knew skate on roller-blades!" Misty commented to her "saviour".

"Skate, yes. Stop, no," Giselle said with a slightly silly smile.

"WHAT???" Ash and Misty exclaimed, unable to believe that they had just heard that. Then they looked up and saw that they were heading right for a lamppost. "AARGH! GISELLE, TURN!"

"I CAN'T!"

The angel struck the pole head-on. The couple that she had been carrying flew from her arms and fell in the fountain in front of the Gym. Giselle was still sitting at the base of the lamppost with her eyes comically crossed when she saw that two furious Rockets were standing either side of her, looking at her angrily.

"Ops... hi guys!"

"Right, you little...!" James began, but he didn't finish.

"LEAVE HER ALONE!" A voice yelled authoritatively. The three Rockets were immediately frozen in place, unable to so much as twitch a muscle. Ash turned around. He saw Sabrina, and her Alakazam (named Merlin), standing at the entrance of the Gym. Merlin's eyes were glowing with power as he used his Kinesis attack to hold the Rocket's immobile. Sabrina had 'felt' that something was wrong so she decided to check it out. Her prescient sense of trouble had been right, of course.

After Officer Jenny took the two thieves and their Pokémon to the jail, Ash and Misty changed into dry clothes. Then they, Brock, Gary and Giselle left in direction of Vermilion City. Just as they reached the city limits, they heard a familiar voice. "Hey! Wait!"

It was Sabrina. They were surprised when seeing her. She was wearing with a black jacket over a white T-shirt (with a daring waist cut-off, exposing her abdomen), blue denim shorts and thigh-length black boots. A backpack was on her right shoulder and Ash saw six Pokéballs attached to the woman's belt. "Can I... Can I go with you?" she asked shyly.

"Huh?!" Did they heard right? Giselle saw that Brock blushed when seeing Sabrina wearing such revealing clothes (although he was not very sure of why he was reacting this way)...

Sabrina decided to elaborate on her request. "It is that..." Sabrina had never found it easy to ask for things. "I... er... I wanted to accompany you in your Journey," she said. "I need to get out of Saffron for a while to think about some things. Would it be okay if I came with you?"

"Sure, Sabrina! You will be welcome!" Giselle said, putting her arms around the psychic woman's shoulders. "It is not a problem is it, Ash?" she asked her 'cousin', using her best 'winning smile' to make it hard for Ash to resist her request.

"Sure! No problem!" Ash said, mostly because he was too surprised at Sabrina's request to think too much about it. However, he did have enough presence of mind to think that, at its' current rate, their little group would be a soccer team by the time they reached the end of the road. He looked at Gary (who was staring at Giselle with hearts in his eyes) and the way that Sabrina was looking at Brock. 'This is going to be a long day,' he thought with a sigh.

"Pika!" Pikachu said, blowing out a little white cloud.

* * *

To be continued


End file.
